Abstract

Background: Chronic urticaria, though is not lethal, it significantly affects the quality of life of patients. The cause is idiopathic in 55% and autoimmune in 45% of chronic urticaria cases. Role of vitamin D3 in various immune mediated skin diseases like vitiligo, atopic dermatitis and psoriasis has been already explored and well established. It is now known that chronic urticaria is often triggered by autoimmune reactions, since  vitamin D plays an important role in innate and adaptive immunity, it is more likely to be associated with chronic urticaria

Aim: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the serum vitamin D3 levels and other clinical characteristics in patients of chronic urticaria.

Method: This is a descriptive study which was performed in about 36 subjects with chronic urtcaria who attended the outpatient Department of Dermatology in a tertiary care centre. Serum vitamin D3 levels were measured and stratified into vitamin D deficiency, insufficiency and sufficiency as per standard reference range and compared with healthy controls to ascertain the relationship between vitamin D status and chronic urticaria.

Results: Serum vitamin D3 level was significantly lower in chronic urticaria subjects as compared with the healthy controls. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (<30 ng/ml) was significantly higher in patients with chronic urticaria.

Conclusion: The present study showed a strong positive correlation between vitamin D deficiency and chronic urticaria. This study also warrants that each subject with chronic urticaria should be screened for serum vitamin D3 levels before initiating treatment.

Keywords: Chronic urtricaria, vitamin deficiency, VDR receptors, immunomodulatory, 5D pruritus score, Autologous Serum Skin Test (ASST).